U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,947, which issued Apr. 3, 1973, and which is assigned to the present assignee, described and claims an automatic timekeeping and accounting timekeeping and accounting unit which functions automatically to record a client/case identifying number, a work activity code number, and the time spent at the particular work, as well as other appropriate data. The unit described in the patent also includes a mechanism which responds automatically to interrupting telephone calls, to permit data respecting such calls also to be recorded.
The unit of Co-Pending application Ser. No. 454,811, which was filed Mar. 26, 1974, and which also is assigned to the present assignee, is similar in some respects to the unit described in the prior patent. However, the unit of the co-pending application does not require any special connection or coupling to the telephone lines, in order to maintain a record of the time and subject matter of the interrupting telephone calls. Instead, the unit described in the co-pending application includes a manually operated pushbutton switch, which is operated by the person using the unit, whenever it is desired to keep a record of the subject matter and time spent on an interrupting telephone call.
The unit of the present invention is similar to the units described above, and it includes a simple switch which, when initiated, permits the timekeeping unit to continue timing, but also to transform the timekeeping unit into an electronic calculator.
The principal purpose of the unit of the present invention, and of the unit described in the prior patent and co-pending application, is to relieve the practicing professional lawyer, accountant, architect, or the like, of the task of maintaining time records for billing purposes of the various clients which he services, and of subsequently assimilating and processing the time records and transferring the information from the time records to separate billing statements to be sent to the clients.
In the use of the unit to be described herein, and of the units described in the patent and co-pending application, the user, upon the start of any work activity, merely presses appropriate pushbutton switches so that data identifying the client and the work activity performed on his particular behalf may be recorded. The user then pushes a "start" pushbutton switch which starts the time recorder and, upon the completion of the work, he pushes an "end" pushbutton switch which stops the time recorder and causes the time spent on the particular activity to be recorded.
The unit described in the patent is constructed so that the telephone call will automatically stop the recording time on the work activity interrupted by the call, and cause the interrupted work to be charged out, and the telephone call activity code and time to be recorded. Then, all the user need do if a charge is to be made, is to enter a code number identifying the client to whom the telephone conference is to be charged. The identifying data of the interrupted work activity is stored in a memory in the unit during the telephone call, and upon completion of the call, the interrupted work activity automatically continues to be recorded.
The operation of the unit to be described herein is similar to the operation of the unit of the co-pending application in that the recording of a telephone call is initiated by a pushbutton switch which is actuated by the user, so that the need to couple or connect the unit of the invention directly to the telephone line is obviated, and so that selected telephone calls only are recorded. In the unit of the present invention, and as mentioned above, another pushbutton switch may be initiated by the user to convert the unit into an electronic calculator, without affecting in any way its timing capabilities.